The field of the invention relates generally to micro-fabrication techniques. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a template to control movement of a liquid suitable for imprint lithography.
The prior art is replete with examples of exemplary micro-fabrication techniques. One particularly well-known micro-fabrication technique is imprint lithography. Imprint lithography is described in detail in numerous publications, such as U.S. published patent application Ser. No. 2004/0,065,976 filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/264,960, entitled “Method and a Mold to Arrange Features on a Substrate to Replicate Features having Minimal Dimensional Variability”; U.S. published patent application Ser. No. 2004/0,065,252 filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/264,926, entitled “Method of Forming a Layer on a Substrate to Facilitate Fabrication of Metrology Standards”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,194 entitled “Method and a Mold to Arrange Features on a Substrate to Replicate Features having Minimal Dimensions Variability”; all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The fundamental imprint lithography technique as shown in each of the aforementioned published patent applications includes formation of a relief pattern in a polymerizable layer and transferring a pattern corresponding to the relief pattern into an underlying substrate. To that end, a template, having a mold, is employed. The mold is spaced-apart from, and in superimposition with, the substrate with a formable liquid present therebetween. The liquid is patterned and solidified to form a solidified layer that has a pattern recorded therein that is conforming to a shape of A mold. The substrate and the solidified layer may then be subjected to processes to transfer, into the substrate, a relief image that corresponds to the pattern in the solidified layer.
One manner in which to locate the polymerizable liquid between the template and the substrate is by depositing the liquid on the substrate as one or more droplets, referred to as a drop dispense technique. Thereafter, the polymerizable liquid is concurrently contacted by both the template and the substrate to spread the polymerizable liquid over the surface of the substrate. It is desirable to have the liquid confined to an area of the substrate in superimposition with the mold.
Thus, there is a need to provide greater control over movement of a liquid during imprint lithographic processes.